A few years ago, in 2009 and 2010, a string of unexplained floods and unusually high tides struck the East Coast. There was no easy explanation. No hurricane. No winter storm. But the waters kept spilling across the shoreline — from North Carolina's Cape Hatteras to Canada. The cause of that phenomenon may have finally been found. Sea levels from New York to Newfoundland were undergoing an "extreme" surge unlike any other in recorded history, according to a study in Nature Communications published last week. Oceans along the East Coast rose roughly 4 inches between 2009 and 2010 in a rapid spike that researchers called "unprecedented" and "very...

Related "Floods and Flooding" Articles

A few years ago, in 2009 and 2010, a string of unexplained floods and unusually high tides struck the East Coast. There was no easy explanation. No hurricane. No winter storm. But the waters kept spilling across the shoreline — from North Carolina's...

A frozen water pipe snapped open Friday night at Saucon Valley Manor in Hellertown, flooding part of a building and chasing 15 residents from their rooms."It was a sprinkler pipe in the ceiling," said Abe Atiyeh, landlord of Saucon Valley Manor....

Odette's was once the gateway to New Hope, a lively cabaret bar on the edge of town that for decades epitomized the ebullient spirit of the famously gay-friendly borough.But lately, it's been an eyesore.After being ravaged by floods, the historic building...

The worst weather of the season is bearing down on the Northeast, but whatever happens in the Lehigh Valley will likely pale next to the wintry beating predicted for New York, New Jersey and New England.
The worst conditions are expected tonight into...

When a fast, soaking rain dumps on Chetwin Terrace, an anxiety gets into Roy Roth's bones because he knows the next few hours will bring water.And not gentle rainwater, but a fast and rushing kind of water that's been funneled through storm drains from...

Long-suffering victims of flooding in Allentown's West End theater district may get some relief under a plan presented by city consultants.
Engineers have recommended several changes, including lowering Albright Street and a possible secondary storm...

NEW YORK — More than a foot of rain hit parts of New York's Long Island on Wednesday, enough to set a preliminary state record, triggering flash floods and swamping cars on major roads that were turned into rivers during the morning rush hour.
Much of...

Flash floods throughout the Lehigh Valley caused several traffic accidents, but few injuries Monday evening.In Allentown, a car became stuck in deep water under a railroad bridge on South Eighth Street, south of Tioga Street, at 6:25 p.m. Reinaldo Varona,...

A man driving his daughter's car on South Eighth Street in Allentown during Monday evening's heavy rains got caught under a railroad bridge in 3 or 4 feet of flood water.Reinaldo Varona, 62, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was on Eighth Street just south of Tioga...

Q: Why has there never been a guide rail erected at the hard curve on Schantz Road at the Schantz Spring reservoir to protect the spillway from wayward vehicles? PennDOT rumble-stripped the center line last year, but no guide rail. Also, repeated runoff...

Wehr's Dam has been a fixture along the Jordan Creek in South Whitehall for more than a century. Built of timber and concrete like thousands of dams in waterways across Pennsylvania, it has outlived by more than six decades the grist mill it was built...

WALLOPS ISLAND. Va. — Missions flown from the NASA base here have documented some of the most dramatic evidence of a warming planet over the past 20 years: the melting of polar ice, a force contributing to a global rise in ocean levels.
The Wallops...

According to Northampton County Communication Center, a bridge on North Cigar Road in Moore Township sustained flood damage on May 23. The roadway will be closed between Valley View Road and West Beersville Road until further notice.
Motorists should use...

Pennsylvania remained squarely in Hurricane Sandy's cross hairs early Saturday, with the dangerous storm forecast to make landfall and combine with winter weather systems late Monday.Although there is uncertainty about the storm's precise path, Sandy is...

Pennsylvania remained in Hurricane Sandy's crosshairs Sunday, with forecasters predicting a one-two punch of wind and rain to start hitting the Lehigh Valley late tonight.Although a degree of uncertainty remains about the storm's precise path, there is...

After almost a week of ominous forecasts, the weather system born of a giant hurricane, a winter storm and an arctic air mass is upon us. And it's not going anywhere fast.Across the Lehigh Valley, residents and government officials worked through the...

Hurricane Sandy is speeding up as it approaches the New Jersey coastline and expected to make landfall in the early evening instead of late Monday night as previously predicted.The storm's speed increased from 18 mph to 28 mph within the last four...

In New York and New Jersey, Sandy lived up to its advance billing as a once-in-a-lifetime megastorm, a deadly collision of tropical and arctic forces that hammered the coastline with mountainous waves and winds and swamped lower Manhattan with record...

Over the last couple of months, several people have forwarded me the following e-mail. It’s liberally dotted with terrible flood photos to illustrate the havoc, a few of which I’ll reproduce here. Two standards? After Katrina, the media blamed the ...